Salmon Training Sir!!!!!!!!!!!!

For the past three weeks (and for the next two or three), Peter has been in Naknek, Alaska working at a salmon canning factory. Over that time the highlight of my day has often been the emails he has been sending along, describing the place, the people, the fish, the work, the experience.

Any parent (or at least this one) wants their child to expand their boundaries. To try new things. To experience adventure. To have a crappy job at least once (if only to provide the frame of reference for the jobs to come - which certainly will seem crappy some of the time). To boldly go where they have not gone before (even if lots of others have gone that way). Perhaps the sort of experience that in ages past was provided by a two year "hitch" in the military.



But in this day and age of unilateral "liberation" of Iraq and other related craziness, I can't imagine very many parents (at least not this one) who want their child to join the military. It occurs to me that Peter's summer canning salmon is providing him with most of the good things that I would hope for in such an experience. A very diverse group of co-workers to get along with. Adventure in a distant place. Long days of hard work. Self-reliance (with food and a bed provided). A paycheck.

All in all, I agree with Peter that it beats Famous Footwear. I wonder if I get a discount on canned salmon?